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WVednesday, March 19, 2014 / The Statement5
CLINIC BRINGS HEALTH
E TO THE COMMUNIT Y
BY PAIGE PEARCY
red awning, i hline oU 1f peple waitngto get;
inside when the doors opened at 9 a.m. Oliver has
high blood pesuean- i a n y of th peopl
waiting in line with him, he coukdn't afford a trip
to the doctor's office.
"We see a lot of high blood pressure and dia-
betes," said Julie Weber, a second year Wayne
State Medical School student. "What's really
great about this clinic is that the people who we
see who have those conditions come back every
month and we give them free meds and it's awe-
some because we're actually managing their
conditions."
Oliver was waiting outside because every Sat-
urday morning at 9 a.m., the Cass Community
Social Services building, located in the Cass cor-
ridor in downtown Detroit, becomes Cass Clin-
ic - a free clinic run by Wayne State School of
Medicine students.
"Especially in your first and second year (of
medical school) you don't have any exposure
to the clinic, you don't ever really get to see
patients," Weber, who is one of the six student
coordinators of the clinic, said. "That's why I
love coming here, because it's really juststudents
treating patients and you do your best,"
"(The patients) know they're seeing students,
but it's better than nothing because they don't
really have access to doctors and we have a doc-
tor here, he just doesn't necessarily come out to
see patients," she added.
Two weeksbefore, Oliver came to Cass for the
first time. While he was there for a foot injury
he was informed of his high blood pressure and
became concerned. He came back to the clinic in
order to continue monitoring it.
"I'm kind of in the shelter, so I got dropped
off (in a van) and I just came over so I could
see somebody and to have my blood pressure
checked," Oliver said. "Just last week I turned a
year older, the older you get the more you have to
watchout for your health."
A history ofhealing
or don't have insurance.
odyhere," hesaid ofthe Clin-
e them as much as possible from
here."
the Clinic was given a very small
pare ithin the church - which still stands
aoss the street from the social services build-
ing. But with the Clinic's increasing popularity,
once the church purchased the social services
building in the late 1990s, the Clinic was given
that space to use every Saturday morning.
"A lot of the people we see, we're their prima-
ry caregiver," Costea said. "We've been able to, I
think, manage a number of people and hopefully
keep them from going to the emergency room for
routine care."
In 1990, shortly before the clinic relocated
across the street, the Wayne State University
School of Medicine formed a partnership with
Cass. Now six Wayne State School of Medicine
students, each of whom serves as a coordinator
ofvarious departments, including finance, dona-
tions and scheduling, run the Clinic. Costea still
serves as the overseeing physician.
Each Saturday, medical and undergradu-
ate student volunteers populate square tables
in the largest room of the social services build-
ing. Working in groups of two to four, the stu-
dent volunteers serve the patients who make up
the extended line outside. They evaluate each
patient for symptoms and take note of their con-
cerns, and then present their cases to Costea,
who sits in the back room where the prescrip-
tion medications are held and determines what
patients need.
"We do all the assess-
ments (in the main room),
we take their blood pres-
sure and listen to their
heart and lungs and then
we go back and do a pre-
sentation for the doc-
tor, which is good for us
because we learn how
to present in real-time
setting and the doctor
is hearing all about the
patient, so he can give an
informed decision about
how to treat the patient,"
Weber said. "A lot of the
time since he's been here
so long he has a sense of
how people should be
treated even if he hasn't
seen them but a lot of
them he recognizes and
he knows how to treat
and he can adjust the regi-
mens as needed."
Kathryn Rice, the clin-
ic's volunteer resources
coordinator, said Cass is
unique in that the stu-
dents have significant interactions with the
patients that they don't often get in other clinic
settings.
"You get to see firsthand what you're doing,"
Rice said. "It's not that you're just giving them
medication and you're walking away; you're
actually getting their history, you'retalking with
them you're getting to know them and it builds
rapport with the community, and it gives you a
sense of what you can do as a doctor."
Insurancenot accepted here
Perhaps the most impressive part of this
clinic is not its long standing history or that
it's student-run, but rather that in an era of ris-
ing healthcare costs, Cass functions at virtu-
ally no cost - all of the students and physicians
are volunteers and most of the medications are
donated.
Neha Meta, a first year Wayne State Univer-
sity School of Medicine student and the finance
coordinator for the clinic, estimated that each
year they receive about $20,000 in grant money,
which she said they mainly use to purchase
medications, like insulin, which they have not
been able to get through donations.
Rice said each Saturday the clinic serves 30 to
40 patients while it's open from 9 a.m. to noon.
According to Consumer Reports, an average
retail clinic - which Consumer Reports deems
as the lowest priced clinic compared to Urgent
Care centers and Emergency Rooms - charges
on average from $55 to $75 per visit, thus, doing
the simple math, that means a clinic like Cass,
were they collecting fees for their services,
would receive at least $85,800 each year.
As aresult, the clinic sometimes can't provide
necessary medications for patients due to the
high cost of a drug and lack of donations, so the
students and Costea have to make recommenda-
tions for the patient to go elsewhere.
"The hardest part is when you can't help
someone," Rice said. "You want to so badly
because you know that you need it but you don't
always have the resources to help them."